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Gawker slams acoustic versions of iconic pop songs
All hipsters claim to be sick of irony while simultaneously embracing it. Gawker has been one of the most active sites in calling such trends a spade when they see a spade. The latest case is the beatdown Gawker gave to pseudo-ironic acoustic versions of widely successful pop songs that have been making the rounds at indie concerts and YouTube videos everywhere. Whether it be "My Humps," "Thriller," or "Umbrella," Gawker's problem is not the covers themselves, but the smugness attached to them:
I'm annoyed with the sentiment that the musician is somehow doing or saying something by stripping down production value. Take a look at the Ben Gibbard cover of Thriller.
It's the self-satisfied smirk and the laughter of the audience that bother me. They're so proud of themselves for being better than pop music.
And also, in de-pop-ifying these pop numbers, what are they removing? The R&B influence, the Rap influence, and pointing out the fact that a lot of pop lyrics fail to comport with standard spoken English but instead reflect African American vernacular. I'm just sayin'.
While I wouldn't go so far as the play the race card, kudos to mr.guyball for pointing out a phenomenon that's gotten increasingly annoying over time. Do you agree?
Trends: Hipster Irony Removes Fun From Pop Music, Leaves Various Words For Butt [Gawker]
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I agree that it's being overdone. Just as mash-ups were being overdone a few years ago.
i think the worst was when everyone covered "hey ya"
nebru
I think a lot of people covered "Since You've Been Gone" although I did like Ted Leo's version
Weirdly enough, the Stooges cover of "Ray of Light" was completely unironic.
yeah, but it also sucked
my copy of ben gibbard's thriller doesn't have laughter in the background(which is there for his cover of avril's 'complicated'), in fact it sounds quite earnest and unironic.
LC
what this is all about is this: Ben Gibbard likes complicated and thriller, and playing them in ironic fashion makes it okay to do it. I suspect most people that cover bad pop songs were at one point just as shamefully into them as you were. C'mon, you've sang Since U Been Gone alone in the car within the hint of a wink in your eye.
jammingyall
Clem Snide's version of Beautiful (Christina Aguilera) was eponysterically unironic, and rather good (though not acoustic...just stripped down). Oh, and lest we forget the grandaddy of all ironic acoustic pop covers, Dynamite Hack slammin' Boyz in the Hood. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlPVpXtkJY)
Carson
perhaps sadly enough, i really do love cover acoustic jams. apparently lots of people do-- at almost every ted leo show i've been to somebody has shouted out a request for 'since you've been gone.' And after hearing an acoustic version of r. kelly's 'ignition', well, i'm sold.
My friend's band plays a Gregorian chant-esque cover of "My Neck, My Back," and it's not meant to be ironic. It's meant to be hilarious.
Is there a difference?
I'm not sure that this is a recent trend. I remember listening to alternative radio stations over a decade ago and hearing alt-rock bands doing hip-hop and current pop song covers all the time (didn't Travis do a Brittney Spears song, or something? And that Boyz In The Hood cover, and I feel like Ben Folds was constantly doing this...). I'm sure this existed before then as well. Youtube, obviously, has made these sort of things more accessible, but this isn't at all something that's new.
Schmid